Chapter 71 predicament

In 1920, Jiang Menglin said in a speech to all the teachers and students of Peking University that Peking University owed a huge sum of money to a construction company last year, and he could only prevaricate when the other party asked for it.Later, the construction company had no choice but to send people to Jiang's house to collect debts every day before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Jiang had no choice but to flee to Xishan to hide. Hushi recorded in his diary on June 10, 1921: "Menglin invited me and Wen Bo to go to Xishan for a tour. Menglin was in the most difficult situation this time, and he was the most haggard. Today we went to the Xishan Hotel at the foot of Badachu together. The discussion lasted for more than three hours, which can be regarded as sneaking in for pleasure. Meng Lin said: "The education circle in Beijing is like a good woman; those who oppose us want to rape us; those who help us want to rape us." I said: 'Meng Lin is wrong, the education sector in Beijing is a prostitute, if you have money, you can talk, but if you don't have money, you don't have to talk.'”

In November 1922, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Peking University, Jiang Menglin made a promise to the teachers and students of the school that the library must be built in the summer vacation of the second year, so that students would have a place to read after school started.However, because the Beiyang government owed Peking University funds for eight months, at the beginning of September of the following year, when the students rushed back to school from all over the country after the summer vacation, they did not even see the shadow of the library.Jiang Menglin had no choice but to apologize to everyone at the opening ceremony.

In 1923, Jiang Menglin wrote to Hu Shi and complained: "Mr. Cai sent a letter to the council, and it belongs to my acting principal. Half a year's arrears, 600 hungry faculty members, and 3,000 students who caused trouble were handed over to me. what to do!" In November of that year, Jiang Menglin wrote to Hu Shi again: "I am very busy now, and I am a bit tired. No one is in charge of the Ministry of Education, and most of the other schools are dead or alive. I bear the brunt of the education affairs of the capital. I am almost the president of the university. And also the Minister of Education. I bought a car now and run on the street every day. I really have a grudge against gasoline (gasoline).”

Before and after the "March 18" tragedy, Jiang Menglin sympathized with the students and opposed the Beiyang government. In April, Sun Baoqi, the former premier of the Beijing government, notified Jiang Menglin that Jiang's name had been blacklisted.Just when Wang Chonghui came to visit, without hesitation, Jiang Menglin jumped into a red car that Wang's military police would not check, drove straight to the embassy area in Dongjiaomin Lane, and stayed at the Liuguo Hotel.The next day, Jiang Menglin joked to an American friend: "I call for the downfall of imperialism every day, but now I am throwing myself into the embrace of imperialism for protection."

Jiang Menglin lived in the Liuguo Hotel for three months, often writing for entertainment.Also staying at the Liuguo Hotel were Zhu Jiahua, professor of geology at Peking University, and others.Later, the situation became more relaxed. The wife of a friend of Jiang Menglin pretended to be Jiang's wife and took Jiang to the East Station in the same carriage.Along the way, whenever a stranger glanced at Jiang, he would feel terrified.After arriving at the station, Jiang Menglin took a train to Tianjin, and then took a British merchant ship from Tianjin to Shanghai safely. During his tenure as the president of Peking University (including the acting president), Jiang Menglin was often troubled by what happened inside and outside the school.He said with emotion: "Being the president of a university at that time was really nerve-wracking. The government only occasionally issued some funds, and they were often in arrears for one or two years. Students demanded more freedom of movement, while the government demanded to maintain order and strictly observe discipline. The headmaster is responsible, both inside and outside the school. When there is a march, a demonstration, or a riot, everyone immediately finds the headmaster, either to stop one side or to help the other. Every time the phone rings, he frightens Jumping. His only reward for running around day and night is the rapidly growing white hair on his temples." Many years later, after Jiang Menglin in Kunming recalled these things in his article "Western Tide", he had another nightmare, in which he watched for a while. I saw young men and women lying dead on the streets of Beijing, and after a while I saw military police surrounding Peking University and demanding that the student leaders be handed over.After waking up from the dream, he tossed and turned, closed his eyes, and the tragedies of that year reappeared before his eyes.

On December 9, 1935, Peking University students participated in the "December 9th" demonstration. After returning to school, they announced the establishment of the Peking University Student Union and decided to go on strike.Jiang Menglin published the "Letter to Classmates" twice, and decided to resume classes on January 4.In order to make students resume classes on time, Jiang Menglin and Hu Shi called all the students to talk, but very few people agreed to resume classes. On the morning of January 4, Jiang Menglin stood at the gate of the No. 2 Hospital of Peking University, and Hu Shi stood at the gate of the Red Building of the No. 1 Court. They personally dragged the students to class, but returned without success.

Chiang Kai-shek scheduled to summon national university leaders and student representatives in Nanking on Jan 16th, 1936 to quell the student movement.Because the students refused to go, Jiang Menglin had to designate three students as "training representatives" to go to Nanjing. When the three students returned to Peking University, Peking University students would expel them from the campus, and sent people to throw their luggage and books on the road, and even scattered photos of their lovers all over the place.Jiang Menglin was very sad. He called a meeting of all the students and said sadly: "I am the president of the National University of the Republic of China. I have to obey the order of the country! These three students are the ones I want them to go to. Of course I take all the responsibilities. …… Once upon a time, a ship was in distress at sea. The captain commanded calmly and let the women, children, old and weak people send the lifeboat to escape. The rest of the people and himself had nowhere to go, but he ordered the band on the ship to play "almost my lord" !' hymn, as the ship sinks slowly. Now if the ship (China) we are on is going to sink, then we should be the same as the owner of the ship, after fulfilling our responsibilities, stand Take it easy at your post. Let’s resume classes immediately, and fulfill our responsibilities first!” But the students still rejected Jiang Menglin’s almost begging proposal to resume classes.

At the end of February 1936, the Beiping Military Police was ordered to raid Peking University, Tsinghua University and other schools, arresting more than 200 students. Guo Qing, a high school student from Hebei, died of illness in the hospital after being arrested.After the news came out, the crowd was excited.The Peking Students' Federation and the Peking University Student Union decided to hold a coffin-carrying parade.When Jiang Menglin heard the news, he and the police came to dissuade them. As a result, 52 students were arrested, including 9 Peking University students.Jiang Menglin also expressed dissatisfaction with professors such as Xu Deheng and Ma Xulun who actively supported the student movement.At that time, according to the practice of Peking University: Professors who have worked for five years can take half a year off with full salary; they can also take a year off with half salary, but they must be hired again after the expiration of the period.Ma Xulun has been working for five years, and due to poor health, he proposed to take a half-year vacation.When Hu Shi presided over the school council, he decided that Ma Xulun would take a year off.When Ma learned about it, he questioned Jiang. Jiang only said, "It's better to give him one year's salary." But he didn't mention the matter of re-employment.Ma Xulun was very angry and immediately offered to resign.As the news spread, Peking University students questioned the school authorities one after another.Jiang Menglin had no choice but to return his resignation letter, personally apologized to Ma, and repeatedly sent letters of appointment.But Ma Xulun still left Peking University.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Nankai University formed the Changsha Temporary University in Changsha. The professors voluntarily asked for a reduction in their monthly salary to face the national crisis together.Therefore, the Linda Standing Committee decided to pay 70% of the salaries of the teaching staff. The meeting publicly recommended Jiang Menglin as the chief of general affairs, Mei Yiqi as the dean of academic affairs, and Zhang Boling as the chief of construction.Jiang Menglin asked others to help him because he was exhausted from settling accounts all day long and suffered from stomach problems.After arriving at the Southwest Associated University, Jiang suffered from stomach problems again, and he recovered after resting for four months.

As the flames of war spread, Changsha was in danger of being attacked by the enemy at any time.At Jiang Menglin's suggestion, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to move the Union University to Kunming.After arriving in Kunming, the school building was tense and the students could not be accommodated.In order to solve the problem of the school building, Jiang Menglin decided to set up the Faculty of Arts and Law of the United Nations University in Mengzi after personally visiting Mengzi. On May 4, 1938, Southwest Associated University officially started classes. At this time, all the teachers and students arrived in Kunming, only six days later.

On March 1, 1939, Jiang Menglin wrote in a letter to Hu Shi: "The current family moved to the countryside to live, and more than 20 thatched huts were newly built (Peking University built a temporary dormitory for Peking University professors in the northern suburbs of Kunming, and the window paper was used for the examination of students studying abroad. The test papers are pasted), in preparation for the evacuation of colleagues here... The location is four miles away from Kunming. Every time there is an alarm, there are full of guests. Two weeks ago, there was an alarm almost every day. ...Kunming has been expensive for a year, and every meter Stone has risen to more than 100 yuan, and it was 7 yuan per stone the year before. Everyone complains... Charcoal is nearly 16 yuan per stone. Pork is 1 yuan and 70 cents per catty. Salt is 6 cents per catty. Eggs are 10 cents per catty. The salary is not enough to make ends meet every month. In a family with a large population, there are people who eat lunch and drink porridge in the evening. For students, the government provides a monthly loan of 14 yuan. Fortunately, the official rice is 50 yuan per stone, and they can still eat vegetables and rice to satisfy their hunger. Great nutrition Problem." Jiang Menglin's daughter, Jiang Yanhua, and Mei Yiqi's daughter, Mei Zushan, were both studying at the Lianda University at the time. They lived in a broken room with three other female classmates.When it rained, the roof leaked, so they covered their luggage with tarpaulins, sat on the bed and read a book under an umbrella in the house. In January 1943, Jiang Menglin complained in a letter to Hu Shi: "The United Nations University has struggled for five years,... the lack of books, and the suffering of life (prices have increased by more than a hundred times compared with those before the war). Under such circumstances, its regression cannot be caused by manpower. It can be stopped, but my younger brother desires the success of the United Nations University, so he does not hesitate to sacrifice everything, but mental unhappiness is always inevitable, and sometimes I cannot help but blame my brother, Xue Ting (Wang Shijie), and Meng Zhen for their intention to create the United Nations University. A few months ago In Chongqing, Meng Zhen blamed me for not meddling with the affairs of the United Nations. I said, if I don’t care, I do. When I get angry, I really want to beat the three of you to death.” In September of that year, United China Aid decided to allocate 1 million yuan to set up a special research grant through the board of directors of the China Education and Culture Foundation to support academic staff in Kunming.Just when Jiang Menglin and others began to implement this assistance work, the head of the United China Aid Association announced that the funds will be used to subsidize the lives of Chinese professors.When this matter was disclosed by the newspaper, it caused an uproar. Some people objected to relying on donations from American charities to maintain the life of professors. Chiang Kai-shek was furious when he heard about it, and finally rejected the donation. Fairbank recalled: "Jiang Menglin came to me before lunch, and I told him about the disastrous defeat of the United China Aid Association. From the outside, he looked like Mei Yiqi—tall, thin, and elegant, but, He is a person who is more rational than emotional. As the two leaders of Kunming University, they are both famous for their ascetic image, and they are impressive figures. Jiang Menglin has not done anything for Peking University recently. He has reached the end of his difficulties. Relying on the remaining clothes and books to make ends meet, his wife is now trying to find a job while he himself is returning to Kunming to serve as the principal of China's highest university. Compared with Mei Yiqi, Jiang Menglin's economic situation is slightly better One way. Mrs. May found a job under a pseudonym, but she was found out and had to drop out." In 1947, Jiang Menglin, then secretary-general of the Executive Yuan of the Nationalist Government, said to Chen Guofu: "Mr. Guofu! The situation is really wrong now. This government is about to collapse, and nothing can be done. We have to do one thing, really. It’s hard! I can’t push it. Two years of experience in the Executive Yuan, I have suffered enough. I once told the chairman that many things cannot be done, and I am extremely stiff. He asked me why I was extremely stiff. I can't tell. I just feel so stiff that I can't move!"